1. ASManager2_6.zip Driver
2. B_DESC1.txt File Contents

B_DESC1.txt Driver File Contents (ASManager2_6.zip)

Name: <  >
Class: <  >
Date: <  >

Creating Character
Description 1

In these activities you are learning about and practicing the use of six basic strategies for developing a character. They are:

1) Description
2) Dialogue
3) Action
4) Reaction of other characters
5) Setting
6) Narrative

This activity focuses on developing characters through Description.

By describing a person's external characteristics, such as dress, posture, mannerisms, carriage, stature, etc., you can often depict inner character.

Here is a description of the Fat Man in The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett:

The fat man was flabbily fat with bulbous pink cheeks and lips and chins and neck, with a great soft egg of a belly that was all his torso, and pendant cones for arms and legs. As he advanced to meet Spade, all his bulbs rose and shook and fell separately with each step, in the manner of clustered soap-bubbles not yet released from the pipe through which they had been blown. His eyes, made small by fat puffs around them, were dark and sleek. Dark ringlets thinly covered his broad scalp. He wore a black cutaway coat, black vest, black satin ascot tie holding a pinkish pearl, striped gray worsted trousers, and patent-leather shoes.

His voice was a throaty purr. "Ah, Mr. Spade," he said with enthusiasm and held out a hand like a fat pink star.

Mr. Hammett chose language which sounds fat, soft, and flabby. He used almost cartoon-like images of the Fat Man. He also uses simile to describe the man's hand, "like a fat pink star." Please reread the passage and see if you can find other ways in which Mr. Hammett was able to paint such a good portrait of his Fat Man character.

Using some of Mr. Hammett's techniques, you can create a word portrait of an imaginary Thin Man. Use Mr. Hammett's description as your model. Wherever you see <  > angle brackets, try to come up with a similar way of describing the feature for an extremely thin and bony person. You may want to change other words in addition to those marked with the <  > angle brackets.

The <fat> man was <flabbily fat> with <bulbous pink> cheeks and lips and chins and neck, with a <great soft egg of a belly> that was all his torso, and <pendant cones> for arms and legs. As he advanced to meet Spade, all his <bulbs rose and shook and fell separately> with each step, in the manner of <clustered soap-bubbles not yet released from the pipe through which they had been blown>. His eyes, made <small by fat puffs around them>, were dark and sleek. Dark ringlets thinly covered his <broad> scalp. He wore a black cutaway coat, black vest, black satin ascot tie holding a pinkish pearl, striped gray worsted trousers, and patent-leather shoes.

His voice was a <throaty purr>. "Ah, Mr. Spade," he said with enthusiasm and held out a hand like a <fat pink star>.


Name and save this file now. (Press ctrl+S, type a name for the file, and press enter.)


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Have a friend or your partner read your portrait of an imaginary Thin Man. Were you successful in using language that sounds thin and bony? Did you successfully draw a word portrait by which the reader can picture your Thin Man?

Now try a description of one person in two different moods. Make this person a baby. In one description, describe the baby contented and happy. In the second description, describe an angry, unhappy baby. Try to mention the physical features -- the face, the body posture, and the arms, hands, and legs -- to give the reader the picture of the baby's mood.

Contented Baby

<  >

Angry Baby

<  >


If you haven't done so already, name and save this file now. (Press ctrl+S, type a name for the file, and press enter.)

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end of activity
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